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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Hounded is the first in the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. I loved all 9 books and a few novellas as well in this series.
Atticus O'Sullivan owns a small shop in Tempe Arizona selling books and herbs to the locals. He looks like a 21 yea-old Arizona State University student, but really he is a 2100 year-old Druid hiding out from his arch enemy Aenghus Og, a member of the Tuatha De Danann or the Celtic God pantheon. Hiding out in Arizona works pretty well mostly because there aren't many Gods from any of the world's pantheon's (all of which exist) around, which is pretty handy.

Atticus is magically bound to his trusty Irish wolfhound Oberon so they can speak to each other in their minds. I find this to be particularly entertaining. Oberon is an amazing companion, able to help Atticus when he is in a tight spot or to provide some comic relief in otherwise tense situations. Thanks to Immortali-Tea, Atticus and Oberon enjoy life staying the same age for as long as they wish while fending off attacks from whatever minions Aenghus sends against them. It helps when you get to wield Fragarach, a magical sword that can cut through any armor.

I personally think of this series as Percy Jackson for older teens and adults. It has it all, all the Gods from the Celts, the Norse, Hindus, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Allah, Coyote, Christ and the Virgin Mary to the members of the magical world including the Fae, vampires, werewolves, witches, goblins, sprites, dryads, and the Minotaur. It's all real - though Atticus makes sure to point out that no one thinks Thor is cool like he is in the Marvel movies, not even close!